For the past three days, I've been trapped at home with almost virtually nothing entertaining to do. I mean, there's always the option of watching movies or playing video games or something, but I'm sure a lot of people, including me, would rather waste their time productively.
So, I gave into this Internet kind-of phenomenon that has been sweeping forums and a certain imageboard for a while now. The idea is by following these steps and using what comes up, you make a CD album cover. This is what you do:
1) Go to Wikipedia and click on 'Random Article.' Whatever the title of the page is (unless it is a band's entry) will be the name of the album's band. 2) Go to Wikiquote and click on 'Random Page' as well. Choose any quote that comes on the page, but you may only use the last 3-6 words in the quote. Whatever words you find will be the name of your band's album. 3) Go to flickr and choose '[whatever amount] uploads in the last minute.' Choose the fifth picture to come up. Whatever this is, will be the album art for the cover. 4) Open up Photoshop and start constructing. You may not add any other pieces of artwork, but you are free to choose how much of the image is visible and what fonts/colors to use. 5) ??? 6) PROFIT!
So these are what I came up with. I thought I'd share.
Eye on Psi Chi "Between Men & Women"
This one worked totally perfectly.
Wojiech Belon
"Farther Into Imbecily"
This one worked too. Nice elephant.
Oligostigmoides "Composing Is Not Voluntary, You Know."
Isn't it illegal to put a famous musician on another musician's album without consent?
Interpersonal Ties "I Don't Give A Fuck!"
I imagine this as some screamo highschoolers' attempt at a punk album.I don't like the cover that much either.
Mountain High "Take It From Me!"
This was the first one I made. I like it - just wish I saved it as a bigger picture. Trinidad Zaachila "There's A Million Things Down There!"
I thought this one looked the most professional even if I was too lazy to straighten all of the letters.
I kind of just wanted to post this to write about how much of a bummer it is that Michael Jackson died. I was really hoping he would make a proper comeback with the This Is It concerts. He was even scheduled to make a new CD and a movie based off of Thriller! For those of you who weren't old enough to remember MJ other than his court charges a few years back, he was, but not limited to, popularizing the music video as a form of publicity, becoming the first black artist to appear on MTV, part of what is considered to be the first American "boy band," holding the highest selling record in the world, and, of course, was the creator of many household trends, such as orange jackets and the Moonwalk.
But what I think bums me the most, though, is the observation that a lot of people are going to remember him purely for his allegations of being a child molester and a plastic surgeon addict - and all of it based on ignorance. The reason I say "ignorance" is because, come on - you and I both know that if you are someone with such an opinion on the guy, you probably didn't bother looking for the evidence yourself. Just looking at Michael Jackson at a glance, or listening to what we hear on the news is not a great way to judge a guy. It really makes me sad that we're a nation based off "don't judge a book by its cover," when in fact we do it every night while watching TMZ or reading the tabloids on the net.
Michael Jackson's look changed completely by the start of the 21st century
For the sake of boring whoever is reading this, I'll try to only cover a few points.
First of all, the molestation cases are extremely flawed. The first time Michael Jackson was accused, all sorts of things seemed fishy from the get-go. First, the thirteen year old that was reported of being abused never showed up to the trials - not even to sit on behalf of himself. Everything that was said about Michael Jackson didn't even come from the kid to begin with. His dad did literally all of the talking. And to make matters even worse, the court found a recorded conversation between the father and an anonomyous submitter which revealed how dedicated the accuser was to bring down MJ's career. The consensus of this message reveals that the dad not only held a grudge against the singer, but was jealous Michael's friendship with his son. Yet, Jackson decided not to fight the case any longer and instead agreed to just pay the family $22 million.
Most of you are thinking: If Jackson was innocent, why did he pay the money? Why wouldn't he just agree to fight this in court?
Think about it. Its a lose-lose situation any way you think about it. If he were to just give up and throw the family a couple of bones, all of this would end and further prevent the negative image this whole case provided. If he were to continue to fight, however, what do you think the public would say? When celebrities get in legal trouble and decide to bring the case down, they only hire the highest of status for a legal team. The media would then likely provide a story along the lines of, "Jackson is so defensive of this case that he hired the best of the best in lawyers, who know how to convince even the falsest of cases!" That would ALSO ruin his image. So, whichever decision he would choose, would cause you to think he was the bad guy.
Second, there's the whole issue with Michael's skin. Countless people reported of how "only in America could a black man die a white woman." It is true that MJ did have a plastic surgery obsession with reforming his nose and chin, but the whole idea of bleaching his skin is incredibly unlikely.
How is this idea debunked? Think about this one too. Why would he want to bleach his skin in the first place? To gain attention? He wouldn't need any more of it, as his condition began occuring at the heigh of his popularity in 1986. In fact, popularity seemed to be the last thing Michael wanted - he even wrote a song called "Leave Me Alone" directed towards the press.
Okay, now that that's out of the way, why wouldn't he just want to "transform" his African-American image along with his other cosmetic changes? This appears to be super unlikely. Don't forget that Michael Jackson was one of the only black entertainers to gain so much success as a black man to begin with. Not only that, but he wrote songs about equality between races and has demonstrated through interviews that he had "a lot of pride and dignity" towards being of African descent. Now, why would he bleach his skin? That's like claiming Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to change into a white man AFTER he started his protests. See how much sense this makes?
Plus, have you EVER, in your life, heard ANYTHING about somebody bleaching their skin? How do you impose this would happen to begin with?
Truth is, Michael Jackson had a conditional disease called vitiligo, a problem that kills pigmentation cells in the skin. It occurs in both black and white people, and a number of famous people have it. You can Google up vitiligo and see pictures if you like, and you'll see that's how Michael Jackson did in fact look. Its speculated that the reason Michael also wore a lot of make up in his later years was because of the disease, which can cause lighter "spots" anywhere over his body and he wanted to even out his skin tone.
Well, that's all I feel like explaining. Even though I believe that the above thoughts were easily provable as false, I do think that Michael Jackson had psychological problems. I really think that he was stuck in childhood throughout his adult life, which is why he had a fascination with providing other kids a better life than he had (MJ was heavily abused as a child during the time he was in the Jackson 5). He also admitted that he became obsessed with his nose, as he was teased by his father about it. Another thing that seems true is his addiction to painkillers. Its reported he became addicted to them after his first court cases, and his parents wanted him to go to rehab for the problem. He never did, and although its still up in the air, it might have been what killed him.
Although there's a lot of criticism surrounding him, Michael Jackson is still undoubtedly one of the biggest names in music history. I just hope that he is remembered for his achievements rather than the bad... even though, you know, he showed us WHO'S BAD. (that was horrible.)
If you need some catching up to do, here are some of his best music videos that, if you haven't seen, you need to watch before you die.
Long time no see, nigglets! School has been pretty alright. The classes have gotten better for the most part, but my math teacher still has no problem trying to show off his crotch every once in a while.
But that's not what I'm here to tell you about! Today I'm here to talk to you about the best game you've never played, nor heard of.Yeah, you read correctly.
If I had to take one game from my childhood that would lead up to the awesomeness that I am today, this would be it. PaRappa the Rapper came out all the way in '96 for the PlayStation. My sister would always go to this CD store in Camarillo (like people do that anymore), and they always had a wall full of a couple PS1 games for some random reason. One night when I was like 7 my sister came home with some game she thought would be insanely random to play because it had a dog with a microphone on the cover. And needless to say, it was.
You already know its awesome.
The story of the game is about PaRappa, a dog living out life trying to impress his best lady friend Sunny Funny, which is a walking flower. Along with their friends PJ (a teddy bear) and Katy (a cat), PaRappa must learn how to go through certain scenarios in "episodes" (levels) of the game, such as learning to fight, drive, bake cakes, and even hold his bladder for extended periods of time! Yeah, you may be thinking this is the most ridiculous game you've ever heard of, but wait- there's more! Did I mention everybody is made of PAPER?
The beginning of the game starts off with PaRappa and his friends hanging out at some burger joint when -BAM!- the "neighborhood bully" jumps in wanting to take quote-on-quote "munchies" from the friends. He then spots Sunny and starts to harass her! What does PaRappa do? Nothing... because he can't fight. At that moment, Joe Chin the superhero dog jumps in, and throws the bully out! Sunny is grateful, and Joe Chin asks if she wants to ditch the antromorphic animals to hang out with him- a STRONG anthromorphic animal! She agrees, leading PaRappa to get the "dog"house blues (HAHAHA IM SO FUNNY). How can he impress Sunny? By learning the way of self-defense!
Training how to fight with Chop Chop Master Onion!
The actual game isn't too difficult, either - its kind of like prehistoric Guitar Hero... or something. Each episode has a "leader", who begins the first line of the rap. As the leader raps, a track will move from left to right on the top of the screen, which shows buttons on the controller. You'll know where they are when the leader's head scrolls across the buttons. You don't get a long time to study, but when the leader is finished, you... well, follow. You have to press the same buttons in order at the exact right time, leading you to finish the rhyme of rap. It depends on what level you're on, but most of the time you'll repeat lines of what the leader says while PaRappa follows on screen completing the commands. Sometimes however, you'll get to respond with an entirely new line, such as an actual song or witty comebacks.
What happens if you miss the command as it goes by? PaRappa usually does something retarded on screen, like saying "Oops" or "OHH!" instead of what he was supposed to say until you failed. Later in the game, when it gets harder and faster, you might press a different button over the other one, which prompts PaRappa to say a RANDOM WORD. Say the phrase you were supposed to say was "Putting the cake in the oven!" (which is actually a thing he does say) and you really mess up. PaRappa might rap with a "Putting the oven in putting cake!" or something messed up, while on screen you get booed, and if you keep messing up, the background will either light on fire, PaRappa will fall, or the leader will get PISSED.
And I mean PISSED. They'll litterally start yelling at you instead of making a rap.
U rappin' GOOD.
The right side of the screen shows a meter that you have to keep up to make sure you pass the episode. Try to stay in good, as you'll need it to pass (who would've known?). Once you mess up a couple times in a row, though, you'll drop to bad. The music will get more tense, and the background will start to enter a fray of MADNESS. Once you mess up even more, and drop down to awful, the music barely sounds normal, the background will be alllllllll messed up, and your leader will be ready to backslap the smiling PaRappa. Once you fail awful, you're done. Music fades off, the leader tells you how much you suck, and PaRappa usually makes a hilarious "Awwwwwwww, man..."
But, if you're insanely amazing, you'll get past good to cool. The only way to get to this rank is if you're an experienced anthromorphic video game rapper, meaning you know the right way to improv.
Yeah, you can improv, but this doesn't mean pressing random buttons to hear PaRappa shout "OOPS" 10 times in a row. If theres space left on the track, and you allign it with the beat to the point that it makes sense still, PaRappa won't scream in terror, and actually continue using words from the phrase. Doing this correctly a couple times will result in becoming cool, apparently. You'll be so freaking cool that the leader usually gets called from someone to go somewhere else, while you're left on your own. This means you get to improv and press buttons for a while making your own rap! But, once you stop making sense ("Driving driving car driving hit the brake car!") the leader will come back, and you'll go back to good.
Hard to explain, but its easy when you play it. Here's a video of the episode where PaRappa forgets about Sunny's birthday and has to make a cake on TV... WITH A TALKING CHICKEN:
The cutscenes in this game are really freaking intense. If you have PlayStation laying around, I think you owe it to yourself to play this insanely fun game. Come on- you've been working hard, and I think its time you learn about flea markets from a homeless frog.
Seriously - I don't make this stuff up.
Hey, PaRappa the Rapper was awesome enough to spawn a sequel for the PlayStation 2 back in 2002, a cartoon series in Japan, and even a couple CDs. Now THAT'S intense.
To tell you the truth, the only reason this game was brought to mind was from the geniuses behind Mega64's new PaRappa skit. I thought it was hilarious and was totally spot on.
So yeah. PaRappa is crazy, and there's tons of videos on YouTube. Check em' out.
Oh, also, here's a preview to my next video game related article...
So I'm out of school for like 3 months or whatever. I start camp next week and still have to get up at around the same time if not earlier, but I guess its worth it seeing as I'll be going to the beach, some theme park, and Skating Plus every week. So I'm happy.
Also, I was supposed to get it yesterday, but just today I got my first White Gummy Bear. So how is it?
FREAKING GOOD. Me and one of my friends were just about to go see the new Hulk that didn't suck this time when we decided to just go ahead and try it now. We walked in, ordered one, and took a drink. I just stood there for a second; it was that good. I can safely say that the White Gummy Bear is not only the best smoothie at Jamba Juice, but tastes EXACTLY like a white gummy bear. EXACTLY. I don't know what they used, or how exactly white gummy bears are supposed to taste, but just trust me when I say its delicious.
Anyways, school was finished today. I'm no longer a freshman. Yesss! But, at the same time it kind of sucked because I didn't get to say goodbye to that many people today. But I forgot about it because afterwards we saw The Incredible Hulk, with along with Kung-Fu Panda and Don't Mess With the Zohan, I still need to write a stickreview to! I think I'm going to patent that word. "Stickreview".
In other news, I got the new Weezer yesterday after waiting too, too long. How is it? Well, you're going to have to wait for my review suckaaaaaaaaas.
I'm going to La Mirada this weekend, so it will be another Saturday without a blog post. Sorry.
I also think there hasn't been too many pictures in this post compared to others. Hold on... let me find some random one.-
WHOA.
I had a really trippy moment right now. I was listening to one of the song's from The Red Album (the new Weezer I just talked about, remember?) while I was trying to find a picture. I was just clicking the stumbleupon button to maybe find a random website, when this site came up with the top saying this:
All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players.
-William Shakespeare
...and right as I started reading that, the EXACT same line gets mentioned in the song.
Whoooooooa.
I don't even think I need a picture anymore. I think trippy moments even out a less than colorful post.
Good news is I'm not sick and got better already. Bad news is that I'm kind of in a really bad mood. I dunno... just been thinking about lame things. Maybe I'm overthinking. Who knows...
Well. I'll try to write this with a smile on my face.
*ahem*
So. Its almost summer, and as you can tell from pretty much everypostI'veeverwritten, I'm stoked.
Besides the fact that there's no school for almost three months, summer to me might not be what it means to you. See, around two summers ago was when I first started to actually listen to music, and was also the first summer that I wasn't forced to go to camp. So I basically sat at home and listened to music and stuff. It was great.
iTunes is probably the symbol of the season for myself. There are a couple of traditions, though, as well (first Vault two summers ago, and I started eating Dibs and bologna sandwiches almost every night :D), but not nearly as much as looking around for new sounds to listen to. So heres my list of songs from the past two summers that remind me of being lazy and hot weather...
#9) The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny - Lemon Demon
Two summers ago, I was obsessed with Newgrounds and so I automatically loved this song. A lot. So I downloaded the mp3 and listened to it all summer.
#8) Animal I Have Become - Three Days Grace
Also two summers ago, I sadly had nothing better to do than make YouTube music videos (which are taken off, thank you). This was requested. So I made the video and I guess the song stuck. #7) Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk
Last summer I was kind of getting into listening to techno. So it would be around 3:00 am, and I just decided I needed to blast some Daft Punk. It made me happy, I guess.
#6) The Final Countdown - Europe
Last summer, I also began to like 80s music. I think its safe saying this song alone started it.
#5) What I've Done - Linkin Park
My favorite band's new CD came out last summer. Of course I would have it on repeat like 9999 times in a row.
#4) What Is Love? - Haddaway
I still sing this everyday, but I started listening to it last summer. You probably know it if you've seen the Night at the Roxbury skits from SNL. Or that Pepsi commercial. Baby don't hurt me don't hurt me no more.
#3) Me Against the World - Simple Plan
So, you see me putting an emo song on the list. Well, two years ago that's what I was into. Me and my friend would listen to this song every single night on repeat. I hate Simple Plan now, but this song will have a welcome place in my soul. #2) Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden
This song... oh Black Hole Sun. This came to be when me and one of my friends two summers ago would play this really lame game called Well of Souls, and he was sending me a bunch of random crap through AIM at the same time. This is the only one I kept, and because the song takes place in summer it makes it even better. I really love this song.
#1) Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Memories... geez. Last summer, I worked for Adventure Weeks, a day camp where we went on field trips places. On some of the days, the actual counselors (I was only a counselor in training, and there were junior counselors too) would let us ride in their actual vans instead of the hot, sweaty buses. So, one day we're in there and they asked us what we should listen to. One CIT asked for some Queen. And ... well, everytime we got let into the vans the first song to come on would be Bohemian Rhapsody. And everyone remembered the entire thing and would sing it on the way to whereever we were going.I mean, I bought a whole Queen CD just for this song.SSo I guess I can say I like it.
Sorry this post doesn't have the Josh flare like it usually does, like I said before I'm in a way lame mood. Oh well.
I only have eight more days of school. Even though like two days ago I was just wanting it to end, I'm trying to get all that I can in now... last minute insults, high fives, and yearbook signings. Eight days. Also, three of those we get out at 12:00 and have only 25 minutes to see people during school. Eek.
Anyways, The Red Album by new-favorite band Weezer came out today.
FACT: The album cover's picture actually wasn't taken to be on the cover, but just for fun
It looks good. If you can tell that by just looking at the cover. I've only heard three of the songs off the CD (one of them just a few minutes ago, thanks to the radio!). I was going to get it today, but I guess I have to wait or something. I dunno.
But that brings me to something I was saving to talk about until today... Rivers Cuomo, the singer.
When Weezer first started things up back in '94, the band was known for having the whole geek-rock thing going with it (which is an actual category, I'm not making up words!), probably associated with Rivers looking like the kid who sat in the corner of class during high school.
Its all in the awkward pose, I guess
His glasses were probably the most recognizable thing about Weezer as a band in general, other than his near-impossible to say name (its ck-whoa-moe). I mean, what other major rock band took awkward pictures with big rimmed glasses? Despite everything, they got popular. And stuff.
But it didn't start off like that. The first few Weezer videos (and even the cover of their first album) has Rivers glasses-less. I think his first true nerd-unvieling was in the music video for The Sweater Song, which was already pretty nerdy song to begin with.
But yeah, for some reason the glasses stayed on for every video after that. And that went on for around 12 years. So, I guess everyone got comfy with Rivers' look, almost becoming the icon for the band.
But then... something bad happened.
Around 2006, after the band was done with their tour of their 2005 album and taking a break, I think Rivers had a near death experience or quite possibly converted to Scientology, because he... looks different.
Not as in "Hey, you got a new haircut!" different either. But more as in from innocent yet intense geek to a pedophile that works at Wal-Mart.
First he lost the glasses and decided to spike his hair...
...and then grew a mustache.
Its not only his new look that creeps me out though. His YouTube series Let's Write a Sawng is cool and all, letting users write a 'sawng'... but its the way he looks into the camera when hes talking that makes me cringe at night. Seriously, watch any of his videos and you'll see what I'm talking about.
O_O
But I still think Rivers is pretty awesome. I mean, don't get me wrong, even though he looks like he stands outside the grocery store waiting to say hi to little kids, he makes some of the craziest songs ever. So I forgive him.
So the moral of the story? Never talk to strangers who look like Rivers Cuomo.
When I'm able to download the new CD, I'll, of course, give you a new StickReview. I don't know how that will work though, seeing as its a CD and not a movie, but ah well. Gives me a chance to show my autistic-artistic side, I guess.
...dotdotdot.
AND A NOTE: This will sound really crazy weird, but while I was writing this, I had my feet up on my desk. And sometimes when I try to move my feet, I'll move them in some weird way beyond my control and the my fool will hurt a lot all of the sudden. But this time, I moved my right foot and it hurt really badly in my little toe. So about 10 minutes later, I looked at it... and came to the conclusion that its broken. Its out of place and stuff. Sadly, that is the first thing I've ever broke besides half-braking my nose when I ran into a pole... BUT THAT'S A STORY FOR ANOTHER DAY. Ok, bye.
DOUBLE NOTE: Also, I forgot to mention that my Xbox woke up from its coma and is alive again. I have no idea why it did that, but you know. That's how things work 'round these parts.
Eye on Psi Chi
Wojiech Belon
Oligostigmoides
Interpersonal Ties
Mountain High
Trinidad Zaachila
Oligostigmoides
Interpersonal Ties
Mountain High
Trinidad Zaachila
